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Pew: “The State of the News Media 2010 is the seventh edition of our annual report on the health and status of American journalism. … Inside news companies, the most immediate concern is how much revenue lost in recession the industry will regain as the economy improves. – Whatever the answers, the future of news ultimately rests on more long-term concerns: What are the prospects for alternative journalism organizations that are forming around the country? Will traditional media adapt and innovate amid continuing pressures to thin their ranks? – And with growing evidence that conventional advertising online will never sustain the industry, what progress is being made to find new revenue for financing the gathering and reporting of news?”

Pew: Major Trends
– As we learn more about both web economics and consumer behavior, the unbundling of news seems increasingly central to journalism’s future.
– The future of New and Old Media are more tied together than some may think.
– The notion that the news media are shrinking is mistaken.
– Technology is further shifting power to newsmakers, and the newest way is through their ability to control the initial accounts of events.
– The ranks of self-interested information providers are now growing rapidly and news organizations must define their relationship to them.
– When it comes to audience numbers online, traditional media content still prevails, which means the cutbacks in old media heavily impact what the public is learning through the new.

Pew: Key FindingsFor the third consecutive year, only digital and cable news saw audiences grow among the key sectors that deliver news. – In cable in 2009, those gains were largely captured by one network, Fox, though during the day, a breaking-news time, CNN also gained viewers. – What’s more, the data continue to suggest a clear pattern in how Americans gravitate for news: people are increasingly ‘on demand’ consumers, seeking platforms where they can get the news they want when they want it from a variety of sources rather than have to come at appointed times and to one news organization. … In 2009, the recession only intensified the financial crisis that technology has brought to the news business. Every commercial news media sector saw revenue declines except for cable. Ad revenues were particularly hard hit. If estimates by ZenithOptimedia prove accurate, total U.S. ad spending fell 12.9% for the year, the sharpest drop since the Great Depression, although most news sectors saw declines close to double that.”